Senate Rejects Cutbacks in Legal Immigration

The Senate, keeping its focus on illegal immigration, on Thursday overwhelmingly rejected efforts to reduce the number of legal immigrants allowed into the United States.

Sen. Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.) had attempted to insert a provision in the illegal-immigration bill he wrote that would have significantly cut legal immigration over the next five years and altered the current family-based visa system.

Senators rebuffed his amendment on an 80-20 vote after a bipartisan group of lawmakers argued that illegal and legal immigration ought to be addressed separately. A similar amendment by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) also was shelved.

The Senate’s action reduces the likelihood that Congress will pass legislation addressing legal immigration this year.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service announced in March, while the Simpson bill was being considered in committee, that 593,000 foreigners were granted residency in the United States last year, a 10.4% drop from 1994. INS officials used the decrease to argue that deep cuts in legal immigration were not needed.

During debate Thursday, Simpson argued that the INS had presented “phony figures” to try to influence the committee’s debate. He noted that INS projections released this week show a surge in legal immigration this year, with the number expected to rise 41%, to roughly 835,000, as a result of legal residents sponsoring relatives.

Despite the rising immigration numbers, most senators argued that Simpson and Feinstein had the wrong approach in altering the nation’s family-based visa system.

As it is now, an unlimited number of visas are available to the spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens. But there are caps on the number of other relatives admitted, such as adult children or siblings, and the waiting list for visas now exceeds 3 million people.

Simpson would have altered the system to make it far more difficult for the adult married children and siblings of U.S. citizens to immigrate. Feinstein called for a five-year moratorium on the entry of citizens’ brothers and sisters, but her plan set aside at least 10,000 annual slots for adult married children of citizens.

Both senators argued that it was critical to reduce “chain migration,” in which one immigrant sponsors numerous others to enter the country.

Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.) agreed that legal immigration reform is needed, but said it should be done in separate legislation.

Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas) spoke of the contributions legal immigrants have made to the country, recounting tales of his own relatives.

“We’ve got room in America for people who are willing to work,” he said. “Go anyplace in America where people are getting their hands dirty and you know what you’re going to find? They talk funny.”

The Senate immigration bill is similar to legislation approved by the House. The Senate bill calls for nearly 5,000 more Border Patrol agents; tough new penalties on illegal immigrants, counterfeiters and smugglers, and a pilot program to verify by computer the legal status of new employees.

Also Thursday, Republicans used parliamentary obstacles to prevent Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) from introducing a proposal to raise the minimum wage. In the House, meanwhile, Republicans defeated, 220 to 200, a procedural measure that could have allowed a vote on an increase.